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Unigine OilRush Barely Does 800 Sales To Date

Phoronix: Unigine OilRush Barely Does 800 Sales To Date

While OilRush is the first Linux game using the Unigine Engine and it features impressive graphics (a second look), the pre-orders continue to be well below Unigine Corp's expectations and certainly what we would have expected as well...

I would have preordered it if I could get it for windows and linux. I don't understand why it is locked to one platform.
I would rather use linux full time. But right now that is not possible for me. If in the future it is I don't want to have to buy my games again.

Game startup formula

1. Focus on the graphics.
2. Make sure it only runs well on less than 1% of the hardware out there.
3. Make sure it only runs well on less than .00000001% of hardware running Linux out there.
4. Profit!!

You would think that people would learn by EXAMPLE. Next time, look at something like World of Goo as a reasonable model.

well, part of the reason sales have been low is that nobody BUT Phoronix is covering Unigine news.

There's not been a peep of it on Kotaku, IGN, or Joystiq, the blogging / news sites most casual gamers go to. Most advertiser driven sites simply aren't interested in pushing games or tech that doesn't give them a paycheck of same kind.

Even HardOCP hasn't been covering Unigine... although their news feeds have improved in covering a wider range of tech subjects.

Boutique sites for hardcore gamers that aren't advertiser driven, like Gamenikkiinexile, haven't covered it either, although that example would be entirely my fault now wouldn't it.

I pre-ordered but I sure as hell am not recommending it to anyone else yet. Although it looks pretty, calling this a beta is a very long stretch.

It always crashes when playing a game (usually 45 seconds or so after encountering the enemy)

Keyboard focus is stolen - you cannot alt-tab out, the volume keys are ignored etc. The only way I have found to do these things is to exit the game completely

It will need lots of play balancing

There are random pauses and slow downs

Multi-platform gamers have to pick a platform

Yet another account with yet another password is created on yet another server using yet another payment processor

No mention of DRM in the official materials, and a statement of "none" to my direct question. Things could change and I bought on good faith.

The reality is they need to get far closer to finishing the game. For example it shouldn't crash all the time. This cannot spread by word of mouth or recommendation until that is addressed and some of the other issues are improved.

The bottom line is that people buy finished products and they need to finish it. They are lucky that some people are prepared to pay early.

Don't think I've ever pre-ordered a game in my life. The reviews will hit the web, then I'll make a decision to buy. If they've got Oilrush right, sign me up. If it's a stinker, then there's other, probably better ways to support linux game development.

As for sticking in a windows CD to play games? Not a chance. That's hardly supporting linux game devs, is it?

Both Humble Indie Bundles showed that there's a market there, and hopefully it's a growing market.